As an example of a radio communication system to which the present invention is applicable, a 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Long Term Evolution (LTE) communication system will be schematically described.
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a network structure of an Evolved Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (E-UMTS) as a radio communication system. The E-UMTS is an evolved form of the UMTS and has been standardized in the 3GPP. Generally, the E-UMTS may be called a Long Term Evolution (LTE) system. For details of the technical specifications of the UMTS and E-UMTS, refer to Release 7 and Release 8 of “3rd Generation Partnership Project; Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network”.
Referring to FIG. 1, the E-UMTS mainly includes a User Equipment (UE) 120, base stations (or eNBs or eNode Bs) 110a and 110b, and an Access Gateway (AG) which is located at an end of a network (E-UTRAN) and which is connected to an external network. Generally, an eNB can simultaneously transmit multiple data streams for a broadcast service, a multicast service and/or a unicast service.
One or more cells may exist per eNB. The cell is set to use a bandwidth such as 1.25, 2.5, 5, 10, 15 or 20 MHz to provide a downlink or uplink transmission service to several UEs. Different cells may be set to provide different bandwidths. The eNB controls data transmission or reception of a plurality of UEs. The eNB transmits downlink (DL) scheduling information of DL data so as to inform a corresponding UE of time/frequency domain in which data is transmitted, coding, data size, and Hybrid Automatic Repeat and reQest (HARQ)-related information. In addition, the eNB transmits uplink (UL) scheduling information of UL data to a corresponding UE so as to inform the UE of a time/frequency domain which may be used by the UE, coding, data size and HARQ-related information. An interface for transmitting user traffic or control traffic can be used between eNBs. A Core Network (CN) may include the AG and a network node or the like for user registration of the UE. The AG manages mobility of a UE on a Tracking Area (TA) basis. One TA includes a plurality of cells.
Although radio communication technology has been developed up to Long Term Evolution (LTE) based on Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), the demands and the expectations of users and providers continue to increase. In addition, since other radio access technologies have been continuously developed, new technology evolution is required to secure high competitiveness in the future. Decrease in cost per bit, increase in service availability, flexible use of a frequency band, simple structure, open interface, suitable User Equipment (UE) power consumption and the like are required.
The standardization of the subsequent technology of the LTE is ongoing in the 3GPP. In the present specification, the above-described technology is called “LTE-Advanced” or “LTE-A”. The LTE system and the LTE-A system are different from each other in terms of system bandwidth. The LTE-A system aims to support a wideband of a maximum of 100 MHz. The LTE-A system uses carrier aggregation or bandwidth aggregation technology which achieves the wideband using a plurality of frequency blocks. The carrier aggregation enables the plurality of frequency blocks to be used as one large logical frequency band in order to use a wider frequency band. The bandwidth of each of the frequency blocks may be defined based on the bandwidth of a system block used in the LTE system. Each frequency block is transmitted using a component carrier.